>I would be absolutely astounded if targeted ads did not provide significant long-term advantage to a big player like Google. How can it be that having intimate

>I would be absolutely astounded if targeted ads did not provide significant long-term advantage to a big player like Google. How can it be that having intimate knowledge of someone would not allow you to sell them more stuff? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactance_(psychology) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactance_(psychology) People know when they're being manipulated and we usually don't like it. All the data in the world won't help you if using it creates antipathy.